The Washington National Opera (WNO) announced on Friday, January 9, that it would be relocating its performances and ending its affiliation with the Kennedy Center, a significant departure that follows President Donald Trump’s controversial takeover of the leading U.S. capital performing arts venue. The opera stated its intention to pursue an “amicable transition” to operate independently once more, citing severe financial constraints imposed after President Trump dismissed the Kennedy Center’s previous board and installed his allies to oversee its operations.

This decision will lead to a reduction in the WNO's spring season, with performances being moved to alternative venues. The opera emphasized that these measures are necessary “to ensure fiscal prudence and fulfill its obligations for a balanced budget.” While the opera's statement refrained from directly naming President Trump or commenting on the new board’s decision to append the president’s name to the venue, the impact of these changes is clear. Despite Congress officially recognizing it as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the building’s exterior and website now refer to it as the Trump Kennedy Center, a rebranding that occurred in December and sparked a fresh wave of cancellations from various artists.

Ric Grenell, a Trump aide serving as the Center’s interim executive director, acknowledged the Kennedy Center’s financial support for the Washington National Opera, stating that it had invested millions, yet the opera continued to operate at a deficit. Grenell suggested that parting ways would offer “the flexibility and funds to bring in operas from around the world and across the U.S.,” a sentiment he shared on X.

The WNO elaborated on the fundamental incompatibility between the Kennedy Center's new business model and traditional opera operations. The new model mandates that productions must be fully funded in advance, which opera officials explained is unsustainable. Opera companies typically rely heavily on grants and donations to cover the majority of their production costs, as ticket sales only account for a fraction. Securing such funding years in advance, during the planning stages for productions, is not feasible. Furthermore, the new model does not accommodate the opera’s established practice of using revenue generated from popular works to subsidize and support lower-grossing, often lesser-known, productions.

Francesca Zambello, who has served as the Washington National Opera’s artistic director for the past 14 years, expressed her pride in being associated with “a national monument to the human spirit.” She affirmed the WNO's commitment to continuing its diverse offerings, including “monumental classics to more contemporary works.” As of late Friday, some WNO productions, specifically Treemonisha, The Crucible, and West Side Story, were still listed on the Kennedy Center website.